New Thinking for a New World - a Tallberg Foundation Podcast

Dr. Charu Mishra on how saving the snow leopard builds peace across borders and communities in the High Himalayas.

One of the most amazing animals on the planet is the snow leopard. The smallest of the big cats is indigenous to the twelve countries sharing the High Himalayas including China, India, Russia, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nepal. Those countries disagree on most things: borders, values, economics, religion---but amazingly agree that the survival of the snow leopard is in their national and collective interests.

The High Himalayas are a microcosm of the problems confronting the planet. Because it is...

Chris Dalby and Clionadh Raleigh discuss the U.S. shift from a War on Drugs to a War on Terror and the risks of a new forever war.

What do you get when you merge a failed War on Drugs with an archaic War on Terror? We may be about to find out as President Donald Trump unleashes a legal, political, and military campaign against drug cartels, whom he has re-labelled as terrorist organizations. The tactics include blowing up small "go-fast" boats in the Caribbean, labeling Venezuelan President Maduro a cartel leader and then placing a $50 million bounty on h...

Roughly six weeks ago, the two Middle East powers, whom everyone feared might someday go to war, actually went to war. After 12 days of fighting, mostly deadly exchanges of missiles, drones and air power, Iran and Israel agreed to a ceasefire on June 24th. But peace is an elusive concept in the Middle East, even more so these days. Will the ceasefire continue to hold? If it does, what are the likely consequences? If it doesn't, who would break it?

More importantly, was this the first Iranian-Israeli war or the last?

It is a hallmark...

Francesca Borri, Hossein Mousavian, and Abraham Silver join host Alan Stoga in Part One of a two-part series exploring the fragile ceasefire six weeks after Iran and Israel’s 12-day war.

Roughly six weeks ago, the two Middle East powers, whom everyone feared might someday go to war, actually went to war. After 12 days of fighting, mostly deadly exchanges of missiles, drones and air power, Iran and Israel agreed to a ceasefire on June 24th. But peace is an elusive concept in the Middle East, even more so these days. Will the ceasefire continue to hold? If it does, wh...

Jaap van der Waarde shares insights on balancing development and conservation in the Congo River Basin.

The Congo River Basin includes six countries and covers approximately 3.7 million square kilometers, making it the world's second-largest rainforest basin behind the Amazon. Like the Amazon, in practical terms, it is vital to the health of the planet. Also like the Amazon, scientists and conservationists worry that the Basin's ecology could tip if its rainforests are seriously degraded.

Unlike the Amazon, however, the immediate threat to the ecological integrity of the Congo Basin is not large-scale agriculture, but the demands of...

Tânia Trindade on balancing sustainability and profit in one of the world’s most vital ecosystems.

Global meetings on climate change almost always turn on two factors: political will and money. Even when the will is present, the money is not---and the result for decades has been the seemingly endless, accelerating slide toward a hotter, more volatile, climate.

Each year the big international climate meetings like the 2025 COP to be held in Belém, Brazil in November produce ever larger estimates of the financing needed to move away from fossil fuels, to compensate developing countries for loss...

Chandran Nair explores the global stakes of U.S.-China rivalry and argues that China may have a clearer vision for the future world order.

We live at a moment when everything we thought we could rely on to understand our world seems to be becoming unglued. Whether it's “uncharted waters” or the “break up of global order” or “the end of the American century,” at the least we are entering a period of change and chaos unlike anything that most of us have experienced in our lifetimes.

Whatever emerges is likely to be shaped in important ways by the...

Marco Annunziata unpacks the risks and rewards of President Trump’s bold attempt to reshape the U.S. and global economies.

President Trump has launched an unprecedented trade war, a radical overhaul of regulation, and a significant reshaping of U.S. fiscal policy. His purpose? To rewire global trade patterns and supply chains, recreate American manufacturing capacity, and change the essential structure of the U.S. and world economies. Can he succeed? How would success be measured? What are the risks it will fail --- and what would failure look like? How might all of this affect your job, yo...

Bryan Doerries uses ancient texts to confront today’s challenges, showing how timeless art can heal, provoke, and connect us across time.

Great art is timeless because it provides insights into our souls, into how we think and why we do what we do. That's as true of Shakespeare's sonnets as it is of Michelangelo's frescoes, as it is of the Greek tragedies. 

But what if those classics could be repurposed to shed light on the specific challenges facing us today? Would it be possible to understand the impact of racial discrimination, political corruption, war or flawed rel...

Francisco “Pacho” von Hildebrand of Gaia Amazonas believes the Amazon can still be saved—if Indigenous communities are empowered to protect it

In 2019, Carlos Nobre, a leading Brazilian scientist, published an open letter entitled "Amazon tipping point: Last chance for action.” If that article were published today, it might have to be titled, “No more chances” because the past five years have seen record-breaking drought throughout the region as well as record-breaking forest fires. 

Indeed, from a distance it looks like large parts of the rainforest are now tipping towards grasslands, with potentially devastating consequences for regional and global ra...

Tom O’Donnell, former key player in Democratic Party, explores the growing confrontation between the President and the Congress.

Normally, that's a simple question with a simple answer: of course, the Congress matters; after all, its powers are enthroned in the American Constitution. However, as the Trump presidency unfolds, nothing is simple anymore. President Trump obviously has an expansive view of presidential power and is clearly intent on exercising it at the expense of the Congress and of the courts. 

So does Congress matter, is becoming a huge question, potentially the stuff of constitutional crisis.

Tom...

Dr. Kris Olson discusses how innovative, human-centered design is transforming global healthcare.

Healthcare is intensely personal. Even when national statistics show improvement—which has been the case for most countries over recent decades—what matters is whether my baby in rural Uganda is having trouble breathing or whether my aging father in New York who went into the hospital with a broken hip will now die from the MERS he contracted there or whether why my wife in Buenos Aries can access the drugs she needs to survive cancer. 

In our hi-tech age, it seems like much of wh...

Filmmakers Charlotte Eagar and William Stirling explore how theater heals and transforms.

Shakespeare wrote in Hamlet, “The play’s the thing, wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the king,” when the troubled Prince stages a play to catch a murderer. The underlying point of the play-in-the-play is that drama is an incredibly powerful force for storytelling and much else.

Fast forward to the 21st century for an amazing example of that Shakespearean wisdom. Two incredibly creative British filmmakers created something called The Trojan Women Project to use drama to help refugees from wars in the Middle East and...

Journalist and author Michela Wrong unpacks the stakes of Congo’s latest crisis—and why it matters beyond the region.

With its unlimited natural resources and huge agricultural potential capacity, the Democratic Republic of Congo should be a paradise—but unfortunately, it’s not. Instead, it’s been wracked by war, bad government, corruption, tribal and ethnic enmities, neighbors who are serially tempted to intervene, and Great Powers who seem to think that it's time for a second age of colonialism.  

Recently, well-armed militias, accompanied by the Rwandan military, have seized key provinces in the country's mineral-rich east. They'r...

Journalist Francesca Borri and activist Gershon Baskin examine the human reality of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the possibility of peace.

The brutal Hamas attacks on October 7th, 2023 kickstarted a new cycle of widespread death and destruction that continues today. Countless lives lost, shattered, or irrevocably altered. Of course, mostly Palestinian, but also Israeli. Even Donald Trump is right about some things, as when he says, "It's impossible to imagine how life can go on under such circumstances."

Indeed, it's easier to imagine how roads or houses or markets can be rebuilt than how people, Palestinians as well...

Ana Palacio and Vygaudas Usackas discuss what needs to be done to put Europe on a better track.

Donald Trump doesn’t like the European Union and he’s not afraid to tell people. “The European Union was formed in order to screw the United States.” “The EU treats us very, very unfairly, very badly,” "They put tariffs on things that we want to do … We have some very big complaints with the EU.” His answer, of course, is tariffs, “taking back” American companies, and ignoring Europe as he reaches out directly to Moscow without bothering to consult America’s allies.

...

2024 Prize winner María Teresa Ronderos advocates for honest, smart journalism to fight misinformation and uphold democracy in the digital age.

Winston Churchill is alleged to have written that "A free press is the unsleeping guardian of every other right that free men prize; it is the most dangerous foe of tyranny.” Thus, it should be no surprise that at a time when clear majorities of people in most democracies don’t trust their governments or their politicians, they also don’t trust their media or the journalists that produce it. Literally, you can’t have one without the other—and...

Aziz Huq and Scott Miller discuss the unprecedented pace and impact of Trump’s first five weeks in office

Donald Trump has been president for five weeks now. In light of the blizzard of executive orders, funding and hiring cuts, endless nominations and appointments, and above all the nonstop controversial policy declarations on every imaginable topic (and some of which literally are unimaginable), it seems like months or even years.

It's already clear that President Trump intends to change, not only how Washington and the United States work, but how the whole world works.

No pr...

Andreas Schleicher, OECD Education and Skills Director, shares insights from the Survey of Adult Skills, revealing its good, bad, and ugly.

We live in an increasingly complex technology-driven world. How we learn, how we create, how we make and grow things, how we interact with each other is being transformed by new technologies that themselves are rapidly evolving. In a perfect world, this technological transformation would lift all boats, make people smarter, healthier, more prosperous, maybe even wiser and more human. 

This, obviously, is not that perfect world—in part because the unpleasant fact is that too man...

Fernando Trujillo discusses his work to protect the Amazon’s freshwater basin during unprecedented drought and dangerously low river levels.

What happens in the Amazon is of planetary consequence. Its rainforests influence weather and rainfall around the world. Its rivers account for 1/4 of the available fresh water on earth. Its drainage basin is more than twice as large as that of the Congo River in Africa, which is the world's second-biggest. It harbors an estimated 10% of the planet's known lifeforms.

Our guest this week on New Thinking for a New World is Fernando Trujillo, Colombian marine biologist, 2024 Tä...

Photojournalist Fabio Bucciarelli shares what compels him to keep documenting the world’s most dangerous conflicts.

We live in a violent and complicated world. Wars, big and small, on every continent; mass migrations, often targeted for abuse by criminals as well as by governments who don't want the migrants; spreading cartel violence; increasingly disastrous consequences of climate change; pandemics and epidemics.  

So much for the Age of Aquarius and the End of History!

If there is any good news in this litany of man's inhumanity to man, it's that most of us have not yet been...

Listen as the 2024 prize winners discuss their leadership journeys, lessons from failure, and future challenges.

When leaders fail, democracy fails—and too many leaders in too many places are failing. That’s exactly why the Tällberg Foundation has sought out and honored great global leaders over the past decade. Leaders who are innovative, courageous, dynamic, with global worldviews, and whose leadership is rooted in universal values.

The three winners of the 2024 Tällberg-SNF-Eliasson Global Leadership Prize recently came together at a seminar on leadership at the Collegio Cairoli, University of Pavia in Italy. Kristian Olson (medical innova...

Dr. Rohan Gunaratna, a leading expert on global terrorism, warns of a rising terrorist threat and the urgent need for a coordinated global response.

The start of 2025 is burdened with no shortage of things to worry about. The war in Ukraine; conflicts throughout the Middle East; tensions around Taiwan; the Los Angeles inferno; the possibility of Chinese and Russian financial or economic collapse. And, of course, the biggest known unknown that preoccupies the whole world: what will Donald Trump actually do when he's president after all of the noise he’s made on his way to the White House?   Duration: 00:33:27

Scott Miller on Trump’s return: decoding the voters and the power behind the presidency

When Donald Trump becomes the 49th President of the United States, the whole world will be watching, with people holding their breath in expectation of almost Biblical levels of chaos and confusion. Ironically, it seems that his return to power may be seen as less dramatic by many Americans: after all, he made his way back to the White House by somewhat unexpectedly (at least at the time) winning the Republican primaries, gaining complete control of the Republican Party, and then winning a majority of...

Eliot Higgins, founder of Bellingcat, shares how his team uses open-source investigations to uncover the truth.

We live in a world where facts are everywhere, recorded and shared ubiquitously. That ought to make this an era where arguments, journalism, and politics are routinely rooted in fact; unfortunately, it is more a world where too many people insist not only their own opinions, but on their own “facts.”

The problem is technology running amok, a bit like the broom in Goethe’s Sorcerer’s Apprentice (or the perhaps more familiar versions starring Mickey Mouse or Nicolas Cage). Wouldn’t it be a...

The Arctic is warming nearly four times faster than the planet, and Tero Mustonen shares his firsthand insights.

That the Arctic is warming is not exactly breaking news on a planet where almost everywhere is warming. But it is critical news that the Arctic is warming almost four times faster than the rest of the globe since the polar regions are essentially the planet’s air conditioners. Last year's Arctic Report Card documented that 2023 was the Arctic's hottest summer in centuries, with all the attendant consequences: massive wildfires, late June Greenland ice sheet melt, sea surface temperatures 7ºC above nor...

Chris Dalby explains what the Mexican cartels want and how they are getting it.

Politics in Mexico has long been a blood sport: not only “winner takes all,” but also incredibly violent. Last month’s national elections—when the country's first female president won with a record number of votes and by a record margin of victory—demonstrated both trends. President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum’s Morena party (founded and still controlled by outgoing President Andrés Manuel López Obrador) won huge national and state legislative victories. But the electoral campaign was punctuated by more than 100 political assassinations, as well as widespread...

Fernando Trujillo discusses his work to protect the Amazon’s freshwater basin during unprecedented drought and dangerously low river levels.

What happens in the Amazon is of planetary consequence. Its rainforests influence weather and rainfall around the world. Its rivers account for 1/4 of the available fresh water on earth. Its drainage basin is more than twice as large as that of the Congo River in Africa, which is the world's second-biggest. It harbors an estimated 10% of the planet's known lifeforms.

Our guest this week on New Thinking for a New World is Fernando Trujillo, Colombian marine biologist, 2024 Tä...

María Teresa Ronderos champions honest, smart journalism as essential to combating misinformation and strengthening democracy in the digital age.

Winston Churchill is alleged to have written that "A free press is the unsleeping guardian of every other right that free men prize; it is the most dangerous foe of tyranny.” Thus, it should be no surprise that at a time when clear majorities of people in most democracies don’t trust their governments or their politicians, they also don’t trust their media or the journalists that produce it. Literally, you can’t have one without the other—and today m...

Join Dr. Kristian Olson as he discusses how innovative, human-centered design is transforming global healthcare.

Healthcare is intensely personal. Even when national statistics show improvement—which has been the case for most countries over recent decades—what matters is whether my baby in rural Uganda is having trouble breathing or whether my aging father in New York who went into the hospital with a broken hip will now die from the MERS he contracted there or whether why my wife in Buenos Aries can access the drugs she needs to survive cancer. 

In our hi-tech age, it seems...

Zubaida Bai discusses how bold systemic change can make gender equality achievable

In 2015 the nations of the world—with much fanfare—agreed to achieve gender equality by 2030 as one of the U.N.’s “Sustainable Development Goals.” With the approach of the 10-year anniversary of that declaration, it’s obvious to even the UN statisticians that there is no possibility the goal will be realized. Indeed, if you want to be depressed (or, perhaps, angered) Google “gender inequality” and you will learn that the World Economic Forum has run the numbers and decided that “gender parity is 131 years away.”

Nonethe...

Dr. Olayinka Omigbodun addresses Africa’s urgent youth mental health crisis amid economic and social challenges.

It is trite, but true that youth are our future. Unfortunately, what is also true is that in most countries the mental health of young people has been declining over the past two decades, a decline that seems to have accelerated during and after COVID. Globally, one in seven 10 to 19-year-olds reportedly experience mental disorders. In turn, depression, anxiety, and behavioral issues are among the leading causes of illness, disability, and even suicide among adolescents. 

What’s true globally is even more...

Francesca Borri discusses the future of Palestine amid escalating conflict and the potential for lasting change.

Over the last several years Palestinians felt abandoned and ignored by Arabs, Americans, and Europeans. The people in Gaza and the West Bank seemed to have become almost invisible to everyone except themselves and the Israelis with whom they engaged in a low-intensity, but deadly conflict.

The attacks on October 7th and the continuing brutal Israeli response changed that, perhaps forever. Now it's hard to imagine ever returning to the status quo ante as unpleasant and unstable as that was. But...

Sasha Chanoff, founder of RefugePoint, explains some of his ideas that could change the future for migrants everywhere.

Two hundred and fifty years ago the Scottish poet Robert Burns wrote, "Man's inhumanity to man makes countless thousands mourn." He obviously wasn't talking about the tragedy of modern mass migration, but he could have been. Today thousands, indeed, millions of people are being driven from their homes by war, natural disasters, climate change, pestilence, poverty, or sometimes just a search for better opportunities. What could be more human? And what could be more inhuman than overcrowded camps, drownings, forced returns...

Scott Miller offers insights into how the candidates aim to sway undecided voters and boost turnout in a nation where many still don't vote.

Once again, Americans are getting ready for a presidential election that is widely described as the most important in their lifetimes. That may or may not be true, but two things are certain: the two candidates, former President Trump and current Vice President Harris, are about as different as different could be, and many Americans wish they had other choices.

But they don’t; either Trump or Harris will be elected in November. Wi...

Hossein Mousavian discusses Iran's new president and explores potential new directions for the country's future.

During the summer, Iranians elected a new president: Masoud Pezeshkian, a cardiac surgeon, who is considered to be a political reformer. His victory surprised at least many foreign observers who are skeptical about all things Iranian, not the least that anyone could win an election against so-called hardliners. But Pezeshkian did exactly that.

Did he win in spite of or with the support of Iran’s Supreme Leader and of the powerful Iranian Revolutionary Guards? Can he cope with the profound challenges fa...

Dr. Christian Ntizimira delves into the social, psychological, cultural, and spiritual aspects shaping the final days of someone who is dying.

The Greek philosopher, Epicurus, wrote “The art of living well and dying well are one.” However, most of us spend our lives desperately trying to avoid even thinking about dying, never mind preparing for it.

An exception is Dr. Christian Ntizimira, a Rwandan surgeon, who founded the African Center for Research on End-of-Life Care. He has thought long and hard about the social, psychological, cultural, and spiritual factors, as well as the physiological ones, that shape the...

Eliot Higgins, founder of Bellingcat, explains how his team uses online open-source investigation to distinguish fact from fiction.

We live in a world where facts are everywhere, recorded and shared ubiquitously. That ought to make this an era where arguments, journalism, and politics are routinely rooted in fact; unfortunately, it is more a world where too many people insist not only their own opinions, but on their own “facts.”

The problem is technology running amok, a bit like the broom in Goethe’s Sorcerer’s Apprentice (or the perhaps more familiar versions starring Mickey Mouse or Nicolas Cage). W...

Leora Hadar and Naty Barak talk about the human impact and implications of all the fighting and destruction of the past 10 months.

Israel is at war, and not just with Hamas, Iran, the Houthis, and their fellow travelers. Israeli’s most dangerous war may be with itself.

That was certainly true before October 7th, and it’s still true. Back then the streets were full of protesters opposing Prime Minister Netanyahu, his government, and their policies; the country seemed split down the middle. That split has not disappeared: today more than three quarters of Israelis reportedly worry abou...

Allison Minor, a Middle East expert, explores how these tensions might escalate into a regional conflict and whether a broader war can be avoided.

The Middle East is a war zone with Gaza as ground zero. But barely a day goes by when there isn't also fighting in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Iran, Israel, the Red Sea, or elsewhere. The danger is that one of these battles could suddenly ignite a bigger conflict with global consequences.

Perhaps surprisingly, Yemen may be a prime candidate for that honor. For years the Iranian-backed Shia Houthis have been fighting, more...

Philip Zelikow explores potential global conflicts and the shifting dynamics between China, Russia, the U.S., and their allies.

War in Ukraine. Fighting in Gaza, and across the Middle East. Risky air naval incidents in the South China Sea. Worries about a potential Taiwan conflict. All of it wrapped in visibly growing tensions between China and Russia on the one hand, and the United States and its allies on the other.

So much for the end of history and a lasting peace dividend. Once more, rival geopolitical blocks are maneuvering for advantage, competing directly and through proxies...

Europe funds North African countries to dump refugees in the Sahara, raising serious human rights concerns.

It’s not exactly headline news that many countries are inventing all sorts of novel ways to seal their borders from migrants and refugees or, when those efforts fail, to force the uninvited and unwanted to leave. It is news, however, when Europe funds, supports, and encourages governments of countries like Tunisia, Morocco, and Mauritania literally to dump refugees in the Sahara as either punishment or powerful disincentive for trying to escape to Europe.

Of course, on paper the lucrative deals th...

Chris Dalby explains what the Mexican cartels want and how they are getting it.

Politics in Mexico has long been a blood sport: not only “winner takes all,” but also incredibly violent. Last month’s national elections—when the country's first female president won with a record number of votes and by a record margin of victory—demonstrated both trends. President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum’s Morena party (founded and still controlled by outgoing President Andrés Manuel López Obrador) won huge national and state legislative victories. But the electoral campaign was punctuated by more than 100 political assassinations, as well as widespread...

Alice Barbe, a French political and social activist, shares her concerns and expectations for the second round and beyond.

Much to everyone’s surprise, France’s President Macron recently decided that—like much of the rest of the world—his country ought to have national elections this year. The outcome of the first of two rounds was devastating for his political project to govern from the center: Marine Le Pen’s right-wing National Rally party won a bit more than 33% of the vote. A coalition of leftist parties, the New Popular Front, won 28%. And Macron's Centers party again came in third...

The Arctic is warming nearly four times faster than the rest of the planet. Tero Mustonen, recently back from the Arctic, offers a firsthand debrief.

That the Arctic is warming is not exactly breaking news on a planet where almost everywhere is warming. But it is critical news that the Arctic is warming almost four times faster than the rest of the globe since the polar regions are essentially the planet’s air conditioners. Last year's Arctic Report Card documented that 2023 was the Arctic's hottest summer in centuries, with all the attendant consequences: massive wildfires, late June Greenland ice sh...

Vishakha Desai unpacks India's recent election and its consequences.

Like everything else about India, its democracy is complicated. Recent parliamentary elections—more than 640 million people voted (roughly two-thirds of eligible voters)—produced a contradictory, confusing outcome. On the one hand, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's BJP party won a plurality, giving him a historic third term. On the other hand, the BJP lost its majority and required coalition partners to maintain control. The political opposition, including much-maligned Rahul Gandhi and Congress, won a new life as a serious political force.

So, which is it? Did Modi, denigrated by some...

Neil Quilliam discusses a U.S.-backed peace agreement between Saudi Arabia and Israel as a potential solution to Middle Eastern turmoil.

It’s been an amazing, terrifying eight months in the Middle East. The horror of October 7th; the endless pounding of Gaza ever since; civilian deaths, casualties and lives disrupted, mostly in Gaza but also in Israel, the West Bank, and Lebanon; Red Sea shipping attacks; Iran and Israel’s exchange of massive missile and drone attacks; rising anti-Semitism and growing Israeli isolation around the world. What if it could all be ended by one audacious diplomatic mast...

Eliot Higgins, founder of Bellingcat, explains how his team uses online open-source investigation to distinguish fact from fiction.

We live in a world where facts are everywhere, recorded and shared ubiquitously. That ought to make this an era where arguments, journalism, and politics are routinely rooted in fact; unfortunately, it is more a world where too many people insist not only their own opinions, but on their own “facts.”

The problem is technology running amok, a bit like the broom in Goethe’s Sorcerer’s Apprentice (or the perhaps more familiar versions starring Mickey Mouse or Nicolas Cage). W...

The Hamas-Israel conflict, sparked by Hamas actions, has evolved into a broader war with global ramifications, explored by journalist Armin Rosen

Almost seven months ago, Hamas terrorists stormed into Israel murdering, raping, and kidnapping. In response, Israel launched its attack on Gaza that has reportedly killed at least 34,000 people (mostly civilians), leveled much of the Gaza Strip, significantly degraded Hamas's military capacity, and killed many senior Hamas political and military commanders.

Yet the war continues and, no surprise, has spread to include Houthis, Hezbollah, Iran and a coalition of US, European and Arab forces. And the conflict...

Pashtana Durrani, Lala Lovera, & Caroline Kronley discuss how it’s possible to deliver quality education even under the most complicated circumstances.

We live in an era of mass migration. Millions of people and families are on the move, driven by conflict, natural disasters, insecurity, and lack of opportunity. The human cost of migration is high, especially for children who often lose access to regular schooling, health care, nutrition, and other factors that will shape their futures for better or for worse.

On this episode of New Thinking for a New World, we push beyond the problems to ex...

Rafa Yuste and Jared Genser advocate for safeguarding our "neuro rights", and are achieving success in various states and countries.

What do Shakespeare, neuroscientist Rafa Yuste, and human rights lawyer Jared Genser have in common? They all believe that our brains make us human. Yuste and Genser add their own coda to that belief: therefore, it is essential to define and protect mankind’s neuro rights. And through the NeuroRights Foundation which they co-founded they are working to do exactly that around the world.

The good news is that they are starting to have successes: in Colorado, Ca...

Andrew Bastawrous, the 2023 Prize winner, discusses the transformative power of innovative thinking in eye care.

Andrew Bastawrous solves problems. As a well-trained, highly skilled ophthalmologist he was devoted to treating as many patients as possible, in Kenya and elsewhere in Africa. But even gifted surgeons can only do so much, and Andrew came to realize that there were innumerable patients who never even made it to the queues outside his treatment centers.

So, Andrew stepped back and rethought how to do ophthalmology in practice. He found an answer by reimagining how eye care is delivered—literally a wh...

Nabil Fahmy advocates for immediate peace efforts between Palestinians and Israelis.

Both of the following statements are true:

The surprise October 7 attack by Hamas on Israel was brutal, outrageous, inhumane, and far outside the boundaries of behavior even remotely “acceptable” in war.

The ongoing Israeli assault on Gaza has terrorized Palestinian civilians, destroyed the majority of their residential and commercial buildings and infrastructure, contributed to a horrible humanitarian crisis and has made the territory all but uninhabitable—even if aimed at destroying Hamas.

That is not to suggest moral equivalency, nor to judge who is...

Pashtana Durrani, an Afghan woman dedicated to advancing her country by empowering women and educating girls, one at a time

Terrorists and Afghanistan were back in the headlines because of the recent murderous ISIS-K attack on a concert in Moscow. No one should be surprised, since terrorism seems to be one of that benighted country’s few reliable exports. But, shouldn’t we all be worried that once again the Taliban seem to be hosting terrorists who can strike far outside their borders? And shouldn’t someone be trying to do something about the underlying problems of a failed state...

Clionadh Raleigh, expert in political violence, unveils global conflict's forms and dire impacts on civilians.

Philosopher George Santayana wrote those words 100 years ago, between two massively destructive world wars. Unfortunately, they continue to ring true today amidst a growing global epidemic of political and civil conflict. That epidemic takes many different forms—wars between countries, civil wars, brutally violent conflicts among armed gangs, large-scale terrorism, government-sanctioned ethnic cleansing—but the terrible consequences for civilians are the same. And, more and more people in more and more places are caught up in extreme violence.

What happened to the “peace...

Andrew Selee of the Migration Policy Institute advocates for rational migration policies benefiting all.

Mass migration is once again in the headlines around the world. This is less because of the numbers of people on the move than because it is an intensely political year—and fear of migrants is grist for politicians’ fear-mongering. The United States is the exception where both apply.

In a world of increasing conflict, weak economic growth, and populist bombast it is easy to blame migrants. And then to tighten asylum policies, pay departure countries to disrupt travel, find supposedly “safe haven” countrie...

Amid Ukraine's conflict, George Beebe of the Quincy Institute emphasizes Western support to prevent defeat while advocating crucial negotiations.

As Ukraine’s war enters its third year, it’s past time to dampen the rhetoric and tune up the reality. The war has shifted from failed Russian blitzkrieg, to valiant Ukrainian defense and then recovery, to unsuccessful Ukrainian counteroffensive, and now to war of attrition. But small countries—Ukraine’s effective population is only 1/5th of Russia’s and its economy only 1/10th the size of Russia’s—rarely win wars of attrition.

The conventional wisdom is that Western s...

Guest host Michael Niconchuk explores the global rise of violent extremism with experts Juncal Fernandez-Garayzabal and Noah Tucker.

Violent extremism is growing globally. It doesn't know religion or creed. Where once it was confined to specific ideology or identity groups, at least in public discourse and discussion, now it appears across societies, across cultures and across borders. Violent extremist ideologies and actions are becoming part of the global fabric.

Why do people get involved in this type of violence? How can they disengage? Can violent extremists be helped to reenter society integrated in healthy, socially positive, empowered...

Amid Ukraine's conflict, George Beebe of the Quincy Institute emphasizes Western support to prevent defeat while advocating crucial negotiations.

As Ukraine’s war enters its third year, it’s past time to dampen the rhetoric and tune up the reality. The war has shifted from failed Russian blitzkrieg, to valiant Ukrainian defense and then recovery, to unsuccessful Ukrainian counteroffensive, and now to war of attrition. But small countries—Ukraine’s effective population is only 1/5th of Russia’s and its economy only 1/10th the size of Russia’s—rarely win wars of attrition.

The conventional wisdom is that Western s...

Andrew Bastawrous, recipient of the 2023 Tällberg-SNF-Eliasson Global Leadership Prize, discusses the transformative power of innovative thinking in eye care.

Andrew Bastawrous solves problems. As a well-trained, highly skilled ophthalmologist he was devoted to treating as many patients as possible, in Kenya and elsewhere in Africa. But even gifted surgeons can only do so much, and Andrew came to realize that there were innumerable patients who never even made it to the queues outside his treatment centers.

So, Andrew stepped back and rethought how to do ophthalmology in practice. He found an answer by reimagining how eye c...

Meg Lowman talks about her passion for the health of the global forests that are essential components of the natural systems that keep us all alive.

Winners of the Tällberg-SNF-Eliasson Global Leadership Prize typically have several things in common. They look at the big challenges confronting society as opportunities for innovation. They don’t celebrate process: instead, they measure success or failure by outcomes. And they don’t reject conventional wisdom; they ignore it.

Above all, they share the need to try to make the world what it could and should be, rather than what it is...

A thought piece where Alan Stoga, Chairman of the Tällberg Foundation, shares how the foundation supports global leadership

We live at a unique moment in human history. We—and, by “we” I mean practically all of civilization—have experienced roughly 70 years of widely shared prosperity, human development and even peace. Almost everyone alive today is better off than almost everyone who was alive in 1950, at the end of what essentially had been one devastating war that had started after the turn of the century.

Now, however, our prospects are less Great Expectations than maybe Bleak House to steal...

Dr. Christian Ntizimira delves into the social, psychological, cultural, and spiritual aspects shaping the final days of someone who is dying.

The Greek philosopher, Epicurus, wrote “The art of living well and dying well are one.” However, most of us spend our lives desperately trying to avoid even thinking about dying, never mind preparing for it.

An exception is Dr. Christian Ntizimira, a Rwandan surgeon, who founded the African Center for Research on End-of-Life Care. He has thought long and hard about the social, psychological, cultural, and spiritual factors, as well as the physiological ones, that shape the...

Uncover U.S. education challenges and solutions with Shawn Benjamin, principal of a successful Bay area charter school.

One of the many challenges facing the United States today is an education system that seems to be rotting from the bottom: while graduate and professional schools are still world-class, elementary, middle and high schools are widely criticized for failing to prepare American kids for the future.

Consider:

In recent international comparative testing, U.S. eighth graders produced their lowest scores ever in math. One-third of them scored in the lowest-performing category. Indeed, the United States had...

Migration expert Sergio Carrera critiques European policies, urging reflection on a more welcoming approach.

European politicians talk endlessly about the rule of law, justice, human dignity and freedom of movement. But those words fade fast when the issue of migration pops up, replaced by endless efforts to stop migrants and refugees at the border or, failing that, strand them in border countries or imagine ways to push them back across the EU borders.

Of course, this same dynamic exists in the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia and other destination countries where concerns about migration are being...

Isabel Aninat offers her reflections on the implications of what happened on her country’s search for a more perfect democracy.

During 2024 more than 50 countries, including seven of the world’s most populous nations, will vote in national elections. While many thousands of names will appear on ballots, what’s really at stake is the future of democracy itself.

Can democracy cope with the centrifugal forces of the radical right and radical left? Will “strong man” leaders continue to triumph with their often simplistic, sometimes hateful policy ideas? Will extreme partisanship continue to undermine national consensus?

Although...

Lars Trägårdh does a deep dive into the social and political challenges confronting America.

The United States seems to be on the verge of some kind of Judgement Day. Extreme partisanship, a past (and future?) president facing seemingly endless indictments and legal entanglements, a profound loss of trust in institutions and leaders, citizens who tell pollsters that their country is heading in the wrong direction and they fear the future—despite objective economic conditions that are better than almost anywhere else. What’s wrong? Why the deep unhappiness, even depression? Is the American dream becoming a nightmare?

...

Elisabeth Braw explores the potential consequences of being too tolerant.

"If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them.” Karl Popper in The Open Society and Its Enemies Financial Times.

Popper, an Austrian philosopher who had fled the Nazis, wrote those words as he came to grips with how the Nazis had infiltrated and overrun liberal European societies. Fast forward to today. Elisabeth Braw, writing in the Financial Times, ci...

Tero Mustonen discusses the urgent need to rewild the Far North to counteract climate change.

The Arctic is warming at least twice as fast as anywhere else on the planet. All the vital signs—sea and land surface temperatures, terrestrial snow cover, the melting rate of the Greenland Ice Sheet, the extent and timing of sea ice—are all flashing red. The Arctic is Ground Zero of a rapidly warming, changing planet.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA for short, recently issued its annual Arctic Report Card, which mostly makes for grim reading. At the same time...

Eduardo Amadeo discusses whether Argentina can finally escape the mess it has made for itself

Why not? The country's inflation rate is approaching 150%. 40% of its people live in poverty. The currency is practically worthless. And Argentina is the IMF’s largest debtor because practically no one else will lend it money.

By any definition, the country is an economic basket case. However, unlike the rest of the world’s failed economies, Argentina has a well-educated population, innovative world-class tech sector, robust natural resources, and world-leading wheat, soybeans, and meat exports.

Arguably, Argentina isn’t a failed...

Zelensky must be honest about the state of the war. Listen as we discuss with Svitlana Morenets what an honest assessment might mean.

On January 1st Ukraine’s President Zelensky welcomed 2023 with the words, "Happy New Year! The year of our victory!’ Instead, as we approach year’s end, the conflict seems to have settled into a war of attrition which neither side can win or lose. In spite of the bravery of Ukraine's troops and more support from the West than anyone expected, Ukraine's much-heralded summer offensive looks to have failed, or at least stalled.

What comes...

Thomas Graham on how to cope with Russia today as well as tomorrow.

Winston Churchill famously said that Russia is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. After the end of the Cold War, many in the West thought the puzzle was solved. The Soviet Union had collapsed. Russians would embrace free markets and even liberal democracy. And President Obama could dismiss Russia as merely a “regional," not a great power. Case closed; time to pivot to Asia.

But reality has a way of complicating simplistic thinking. First, President Putin consolidated his domestic control, then al...

Allyson Maynard-Gibson discusses a new way of thinking about how people can find the justice they deserve.

It’s commonplace today to bemoan the erosion of democracy almost everywhere. Seemingly endless polls document citizens’ complaints; even more academic books and papers seek to explain the problem. But maybe we are overthinking this. Maybe the “democracy” problem is at its core a “justice” problem—meaning that because too many people in too many places lack adequate access to justice and cannot resolve basic legal problems that plague them, they have—understandably—begun to doubt democracy itself.

Why is that? What can be...

Guest host Michael Niconchuk explores the global rise of violent extremism with experts Juncal Fernandez-Garayzabal and Noah Tucker.

Violent extremism is growing globally. It doesn't know religion or creed. Where once it was confined to specific ideology or identity groups, at least in public discourse and discussion, now it appears across societies, across cultures and across borders. Violent extremist ideologies and actions are becoming part of the global fabric.

Why do people get involved in this type of violence? How can they disengage? Can violent extremists be helped to reenter society integrated in healthy, socially positive, empowered...

In this SPOTLIGHT piece by Alan Stoga, he offers a glimmer of hope in the war between Israel and Hamas.

The war between Israel and Hamas is a classic “lose/lose” proposition: there can be no winners, with a range of outcomes that stretch from bad towards disastrous. Is this just one more awful conflict in a region whose history is pockmarked by war, violence and hate? Or is there a chance that this bloodletting—as brutal and awful as it has already been—could eventually create a different dynamic?

That’s the glimmer of hope in this Tällb...

Dr. Ruth Faden explains what happened during COVID and how we can do better.

According to the WHO, the COVID pandemic killed almost seven million people. The full bill was undoubtedly far greater, not only in terms of lives lost, but of liberties suspended, economies disrupted, educations interrupted, economic development foregone. All in all, the pandemic was one of the blackest swans to have landed in the global pond in a long time.

It was also a colossal ethical failure. Remember "We are all in this together?” Well, we weren’t. Although the pandemic was a global prob...

Lars Trägårdh does a deep dive into the social and political challenges confronting America.

The United States seems to be on the verge of some kind of Judgement Day. Extreme partisanship, a past (and future?) president facing seemingly endless indictments and legal entanglements, a profound loss of trust in institutions and leaders, citizens who tell pollsters that their country is heading in the wrong direction and they fear the future—despite objective economic conditions that are better than almost anywhere else. What’s wrong? Why the deep unhappiness, even depression? Is the American dream becoming a nightmare?

...

Luke Iseman and Andrew Song explain how they think they can cool the planet.

Supposedly, Herodotus wrote that when the Greeks were told that the Persian archers at the Battle of Thermopylae would blot out the sun with their arrows, they responded: “Good, then we shall have our battle in the shade.”

Fast forward to the early 21st century and the issue is no longer Persian arrows, but the relentless heat from a sun less and less buffered by earth’s atmosphere because of the accumulated greenhouse gasses. The result, according to scientists, is a rapidly warming planet...

Listen to Ambassador Mirpuri's reflections on what he learned about America during his service in Washington.

"There is nothing dramatic in the success of a diplomatist. His victories are made up of a series of microscopic advantages: of a judicious suggestion here, of an opportune civility there, of a wise concession at one moment and a far-sighted persistence at another; of sleepless tact, immovable calmness and patience that no folly, no provocation, no blunder can shake.” Lord Salisbury, British statesman of the 19th century

Ambassador Ashok Mirpuri has just completed 12 years, an unusually long period, as Singapore's am...

Elisabeth Braw explores the potential consequences of being too tolerant.

"If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them.” Karl Popper in The Open Society and Its Enemies Financial Times.

Popper, an Austrian philosopher who had fled the Nazis, wrote those words as he came to grips with how the Nazis had infiltrated and overrun liberal European societies. Fast forward to today. Elisabeth Braw, writing in the Financial Times, ci...

Will India continue to evolve and become a global power? Milan Vaishnav shares some answers in this episode.

India's backstory is largely unknown in the West. Between the 1st and 17th centuries AD, the country had the world's largest economy, controlling as much as one-third of global wealth. But that seemingly endless prosperity was followed by almost 500 years of decline as India was plundered and pushed aside by modern powers.

Fast forward to 2023: India is the world's most populous nation with one of the largest economies. The three trillion dollar Indian economy is expected to grow faster...

Shahidul Alam’s words and pictures force one—sometimes gently, sometimes less so—to confront reality

Shahidul Alam is many things: world-class photographer, Bangladeshi human rights activist, teacher, and author. He is also a provocateur, whose words and pictures force one—sometimes gently, sometimes less so—to confront reality.

Alam is also part of the Tällberg Foundation's Global Leadership Network. In that capacity, he recently delivered a short provocation reflecting on the realities of democracy and the challenges of freedom.

This is not the usual New Thinking for a New World conversation, but we think you'l...

Paula DiPerna on solving the climate crisis and valuing our most precious assets.

Humanity is hardwired to value the valuable, to conserve even to hoard treasure. The atmosphere, the oceans, earth’s ecosystem are vital to life, yet we essentially view them as free goods. The inevitable result is overconsumption, waste and pollution. Paula DiPerna’s key insight in her new book, Pricing the Priceless, is that the only way to break the cycle that is obviously damaging, perhaps destroying the temperate environment that mankind needs to prosper is to pay for the environmental services we consume every day.

Former acting U.S. Attorney Joon Kim delves into the unprecedented legal challenges surrounding Donald Trump.

Donald Trump continues to make history: he is the only American president (serving or former) ever to have been criminally indicted. He already faces two separate indictments and trials, with the strong possibility of one or two more before the end of the year. That would set a record for presidential indictments that will last a long time.

A former president standing trial is extraordinary on its own; a former president standing trial while running for re-election is terra incognita for...

Asha de Vos has done pioneering work on blue whales and joined this week for a conversation about her work in Sri Lanka.

The planet “Earth” should probably be called “Water” since 70% of it is ocean. Of course, that also means any discussion of climate issues should start with the oceans. Increasing temperatures, rising sea levels, declining biodiversity, growing acidification and other changes driven by climate change have profound impact on the overall degradation of the planet and on mankind’s future.

Marine biologist Asha de Vos knows as much as anyone about our blue planet. She has done p...

Yevgenia Albats, a journalist in forced exile from Russia, thinks that Prigozhin is a “dead man walking.” Maybe Putin, too.

A few days ago the world watched in amazement as Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the infamous paramilitary Wagner Group, turned his ambition from defeating Ukraine to challenging the Russian army and—although he continues to deny it—Vladimir Putin himself. Wagner’s fighters seized some Russian territory and rapidly advanced towards Moscow, before abruptly halting, accepting a deal negotiated by Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko, and standing down.

Details are still in short supply, but it’s hard to imagine t...

Rebecca Finlay delves into the questions surrounding the regulation of a AI, its limitless potential, and the challenges faced in controlling its impact on society.

Although inflection points are better judged in retrospect, OpenAI's release of ChatGPT late last year may have touched off a new era in how mankind relates to machines—perhaps in how civilization works. From medicine and legal briefs and sonnets in the style of Shakespeare to John Lennon’s long-dead voice, the combination of generative artificial intelligence and massive computing power is producing endless wonders across wide ranges of human activity, some trivial but some...

Nino Evgenidze on the impact of Russia's invasion of Ukraine and its potential consequences for Georgia's future.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine seems likely to be one of those seminal events that will divide our future histories: BI and AI. That's obviously true for the combatants, but for many others as well.

Consider the small country of Georgia, with less than 4 million people, located at the eastern end of the Black Sea, and sharing an almost 900-kilometer border with Russia. Like Ukraine, it is another part of the former Soviet Union as well as a country that Russia...

Join us as we revisit our conversation with Johan Rockström as he shed light on the gravity of our situation, stating that "for the first time in human history, we face a planetary emergency."

Join us as we revisit our conversation with Johan Rockström, renowned earth scientist and Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. A year ago, he shed light on the gravity of our situation, stating that "for the first time in human history, we face a planetary emergency." Astonishingly, this remains an urgent reality even today. Recently, an article titled "Safe and ju...

Gilles Kepel discusses the recent developments in the Middle East that could reshape the global order.

Over the last several months, there have been a series of extraordinary developments in the Middle East that could have almost as big an impact on the shape of the new global order as Russia’s war on Ukraine. Consider even a partial list:

China's engineering of rapprochement between supposedly implacable enemies Iran and Saudi Arabia;

The Arab League celebrating the return of Syria's president Assad, still considered a war criminal in the West;

Saudi Arabia's application to...

Will India continue to evolve and become a global power? Milan Vaishnav shares some answers in this episode.

India's backstory is largely unknown in the West. Between the 1st and 17th centuries AD, the country had the world's largest economy, controlling as much as one-third of global wealth. But that seemingly endless prosperity was followed by almost 500 years of decline as India was plundered and pushed aside by modern powers.

Fast forward to 2023: India is the world's most populous nation with one of the largest economies. The three trillion dollar Indian economy is expected to grow faster...

Samah Salman, a Sudanese businesswoman and civil society leader shares her insights on the situation and efforts for peace.

Sudan is at war with itself. The revolution that drove Omar al-Bashir from office after 30 years produced coups, conflict and military rule rather than peace, democracy and prosperity. Today two generals—Abdel Fattah al-Burhan of the Sudanese Army and Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo of the Rapid Support Forces—are locked in mortal combat for control. The price of their rivalry is enormous: hundreds dead, millions displaced internally and across borders, spreading hunger and disease, and a crushed economy.

The trag...

Sam Muller believes that you can make justice systems work for people.

2023 has become a year of recession, inflation, social and labor unrest, war, the ravages of climate, food insecurity, and rising inequality. One casualty of that mess is the rule of law; justice seems to take a beating when times are bad. Why is that?

The demand for justice is not only a basic human right, but also a human need. Yet justice systems in many countries, rich and poor, are too cumbersome, too wrapped up in formalities, too layered with complex and even contradictory laws...

Yasmine Farouk discusses the impact of China’s mediation between Saudi Arabia and Iran on the Middle East and beyond.

Early last month, there was an extraordinary announcement. Saudi Arabia and Iran had agreed to resume diplomatic relations after seven years of more or less open hostility. Even more extraordinary was the person standing between the Iranian and Saudi foreign ministers, Wang Yi, China's most senior foreign policy official. His statement that day said it all: "This is a victory for dialogue, a victory for peace, major positive news for a world, which is currently so turbulent and restive. An...

Pierre Lellouche is deeply worried about what he sees as Macron’s strategic and political mistakes and the consequences for his country.

French President, Emmanuel Macron, has had a complicated few weeks.

On the one hand, China's President Xi gave him red-carpet treatment in Beijing, where Macron, again, made his case for European strategic sovereignty—code for independence from the United States—and said that Europe should not follow America’s lead on Taiwan. Both were music to Chinese ears. On the other, his Taiwan comments stirred widespread anger across Europe and, of course, in Washington. He was burn...

Anthropologist Amelia Frank-Vitale discusses what it takes to walk from Honduras to Texas, and the tragedies along the way.

Human history is a long and continuing story of migration. People have always moved out of fear or out of opportunity—and other people have always resisted them. That story continues today: as more people try to flee war, climate extremes and poverty, more walls get built, boats sunk, caravans disrupted, and refugees pushed back.

Aren't we supposed to be better than that in the 21st century? After all, we have the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the UN...

Anna Wieslander has had the temerity to point out that the West has no strategy to end the Ukraine war.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine has settled into a grueling, vicious war of attrition with no end in sight. However, there is a growing consensus in NATO capitals that a long war not only favors Russia but has the potential for nasty, unintended consequences. What does not seem to exist is a strategy to do something about it.

Lots of rhetoric: “Ukraine will win” and “we will do what it takes” as well as tactics galore. Send more weapons...

Bright Simons advocates for a new approach, arguing against debt cancellation as the solution for Africa's current financial challenges.

Africa might finally be on the verge of realizing its enormous potential. A booming, young, optimistic population. Vast reserves of the metals needed to power the clean energy transition worldwide. Widespread popular demands to end corruption. A growing middle class. Taken together, these assets could produce the prosperity and peace Africans deserve.

What stands in the way?

One of the most important blockages is too much debt, compounded by too much history of mismanaging past borrowings...

Journalist Neri Zilber talks about a situation that seems destined to go from bad to worse.

Israel seems to be on the verge of exploding. Prime Minister Netanyahu’s pursuit of radical judicial reform has been met with massive and growing street demonstrations. The country’s President, Isaac Herzog, has publicly warned of a political "point of no return" with potentially disastrous consequences for Israeli society. Meanwhile, violence between Israelis and Palestinians is soaring, raising the possibility of another intifada and adding to the sense of looming disaster.

Indeed, a recent poll suggested that one-third of Israelis beli...

Isabel Aninat is fundamentally optimistic that Chilean democracy is headed in a good direction. What do you think?

After the tragedy of the Pinochet years, Chile had evolved into one of the most successful countries in the Americas in economic terms, but perhaps more importantly, in terms of the health of its democracy. Right and left-wing parties and presidents alternated power, the judicial system worked, corruption was low, Chilean political leaders were respected at home and abroad. All of that came to a screeching halt in 2019 when protests escalated into widespread violence.

Chile was suddenly at, what...